The Child Is Gone
by your number one fan
Summary: Chesapeake's story...
1. Don't Turn Around

One brisk winter morning, a grey feather and the breeze made love. After they were through the feather fluttered towards me. It was snowing and I couldn't remember how long I had been outside. I blinked but it appeared that my eyelashes were prey to too many snowflakes; thus I began to pay attention to the world beyond my eyelashes. Struggling to remember some nuance of how I had come to this chillly demise I wondered if perhaps I was dead. The crunching of snow hovered about me, under determined feet and I heard shouting. I squeezed my toes, clenched my fists, straightened my legs and sat up. It was surprising that I acheived this, as I had not known that I had been lying down.  
  
I did not reckognize my location, except that I had been lying in a snowdrift, almost completely covered. I breathed deeply and stood, catching my balace by sheer luck. At last I placed my hands in my pockets and began to walk. It was then that thoughts began to race through my head; where was I? why was I here? was I running from someone? what was my story? I felt a paper in my pocket. Extracting it I found it was a train ticket stub, ripped in half reading only "Departure City: CHESAPEAKE" I had walked no more than ten feet when I began to feel faint. I searched my surroundings and my memory for lodging and safety. At last, fatigued and nearly frozen I fell to my knees. I could hear the cries of the newsboys as my world sifted into blackness.  
  
**  
  
Color seeped back into the world- it was warm and brown. A quilt was wrapped around me and I was lying on a bed. I tried to speak. Something around me stirred. A girl with flaming red hair stopped writing and examined me. Her voice was deafening, "She's moving!" There were more scrambling noises until I blinked and finally fully awoke.  
  
"Whoa."  
  
BR CH2  
  
The crowd around me hovered in interest. I sat up and looked at them. "Where's Richard?" I asked, becoming aware of a few sore spots on my torso and face.  
  
Blankness registered on each face. I sighed. "Where have I been?"  
  
A short girl with auburn hair smiled and began her answer, "Giggles," she motioned to a girl with long brown hair and green eyes, "She found ya passed out an' preddy badly beaten in da snow and brought ya heah. Evah since we'se been takin' toins watchin' you ta see when ya wake up." She must have noticed my confusion deepen, "I'se Smalls, and you're in New York City, da bourough of Manhattan. Dis is da newsies lodgin' house."  
  
Giggles... giggled. I could see why she had been so christened. She was not much taller than Smalls. "I'm from Chesapeake Beach, Maryland," I told her, "My father was employed by Chesapeake Beach Railway Company. I was traveling to New York with Richard... my boyfriend. We were eloping..." I spoke softly, almost wistfully.  
  
"Well, welcome ta Manhattan. We'se gotta get down ta da distribution centah... Someone wanna stay wid' ouah new friend Chesapeake?" said a boy with a bright blonde dutch-boy.  
  
"I'll do it," Giggles offered, "I'll show you around the joint, let you get comfortable. Maybe we'll even go to a few other bouroughs and see about Richard."  
  
"But foist," said Smalls, "Dis is Dutchy," the blonde boy nodded; "Dis is Fiahcrackah," she said hey and tossed her hair over her shoulder; "Bittah," was blonde; "Mush," looked innocent; "Blaze" was quiet with curly blonde hair; and "Bumlets," was agile with black hair. I waved to them all and watched them file out the door before turning to Giggles, my tourguide, expectantly.  
  
She smiled, "This is the girls bunkroom. I guess you can keep the bunk you're on, unless you don't like it." I shrugged and smiled. I was sure any bunk would be fine. "Do you think you can stand on your own? You were pretty near frozen when I found you." I nodded, attempting on my meager knees to stand. My black hair fell in curls around me. Memory now returned of evenings past since that day in the snow when young girls had argued over who would comb my hair.  
  
"How old are you?" Giggles asked, thoughtfully.  
  
"Seventeen," I said, "You?"  
  
"Sixteen. Do you know your real name? We've been calling you Chesapeake. Is that alright with you?"  
  
I breathed deeply. The thought had not occurred to me that I might be staying with these people for a long time- in search of my fiancé. Frankly, I did not care what they called me. "My name is Lynn Bailey. You can call me whatever you like." A pause ensued where I was unsure of what to do.  
  
Giggles then took charge, leading me into the washroom, the boys' bunkroom, the boys' washroom, the lobby, and Kloppman's office. I met Kloppman, and signed into his book. All that business settled, my mind was not at ease. "Do you think you could help me find Richard, Giggles?"  
  
BR CH3  
  
Over the course of the next few months, the newsies and I searched high and low for any Richard from the bay area, to no avail. It was likely, they told me, that the same thugs who had beaten me and stolen my bags had beaten and killed him. I sulked. More often than sulking, I dreamt. The fantasies I had were so elaborate that at times I found myself speaking of them as fact. But I grew close with the newsies and became one of them. They were my friends in a place where I should have been friendless. Slowly I stopped dreaming and gave up Richard for dead.  
  
Until one day, trucking along near tenth street, jingling the coins in my pockets. Life was looking up. It was the middle of spring- the world was beginning again. I wandered into the Lodging House, humming a cheery tune, victim of some spring-fever-like ailment. Kloppman intercepted me on the way in. "Chesa," he called, before I had time to rush up the stairs, "There's a boy been lookin' fer ya. Says ya know 'im. 'E's waitin' fer ya by yer bunk."  
  
My heart leapt. Could it be that all these months, my belovèd had been searching for me as determined as I had been searching for him. I squealed, clutched my skirts and raced up the stairs.  
  
His frame was slighter than before, when I reached the top. He sat on my bunk, looking out the window. I began to cry- he looked up, and we rushed to embrace each other. "Richard!" I exclaimed and refused to let go of him. He kissed my neck, sighing. My thoughts raced, everything inside me was alive, "Where have you been all this time?"  
  
He sat, looking up at me lovingly. I marvelled again, re-infatuated, at his eyes and his face and his hair. "Can't we forget all that's happened here," he said, "And go home?"  
  
"CHESA!" called Smalls as she and the others gallumphed up the stairs, "Guess what!?" I whirled around as the newsies came into the room. "Big night tanight at Medda's- everybody's gonna be deah...." She trailed off.  
  
"Everybody," I said, "This is Richard Lawrence, my fiancé."  
  
**  
  
That evening, I did go to Irving Hall with the newsies. Richard tagged along. Smalls had been right- everybody was there. Even Spot and a few of his cronies from Brooklyn. Richard knit his brow as the show began; I couldn't help but love it.  
  
Medda and a few of the boys had come up with a great follies show. Jack and Blink dressed up in Medda's dresses and Medda dressed up to look like a newsie. It was a riot. They performed numbers together and everything. After the show, when we were all headed home, Jack expressed a certain amount of interest in getting to know Richard. I walked home with them.  
  
"So, do ya like it heah?" Jack asked, kicking up dust.  
  
Richard shook his head, "To tell the truth, I really don't." My heart sank. "It's too...."  
  
"I have to choose?" I blurted, interrupting his sentence- rudely- I could tell by his countenance. "I have to choose between the love of my life and my new best friends?"  
  
"No, Darling," he said at once. "I won't make you choose. I will never do such a thing," he told me, "I love you too much." He grabbed my hand, "I will just have to make some adjustments."  
  
"I love you, too," I said, squeezing his hand.  
  
Cowboy raised his eyebrows and we continued back to the lodging house.  
  
BR PT4  
  
My relationship with Richard flourished. He bought me flowers and candy, although I was never sure where he obtained the money for such novelties. He never once ventured onto the streets with the newsies. He smiled at me from the windowsill and greeted me everyday cheerily with a myriad of questions. And so it astonished me when, a month after he had arrived, Richard told me he wanted to return to Chesapeake Beach... without me. The first thought that troubled my mind was 'why?' followed quickly with, 'I'll go with you!' But he declined- declined so strongly, in unrepeatable words, that I was speechless. He slept on top of the covers of our bed that night.  
  
The next morning, he was to arrive at the great and glorious Grand Central Station, on board a train, headed for Maryland. I, overtaken by unspeakable infatuation, grew quite enraged that he was leaving me. Despite the fact that he was breaking my heart, he was doing it in a manner which would dishonor me. I hadn't told any of the newsies of the tragedy a night earlier, so none of them had accompanied me to see him off.  
  
That day at the trainyards, I became aware of the most awkward scenes and things. Everything seemed slow, as though God wanted to savor every second of something magnificent happening somewhere else. Maybe it was those two long-lost lovers reunited on the platform. Perhaps it was a fly buzzing around the ticket window. A child cried. A girl no higher than four feet huddled beneath a raspberry parasol.  
  
'I'm going to be strong. I'm going to be fine,' I told myself, 'Don't worry about this heart of mine.' I looked at him, sadly, "Go on and go- you see if I care. But don't turn around." 'Don't turn around because you're gonna see my heart breaking,' I thought, 'Don't turn around- I don't want you seeing me cry. Just walk away, it's tearing me apart that you're leaving. I'm letting you go. But I won't let you know.'  
  
With a huff and a pivot, he walked away and boarded the train. He didn't turn around.  
  
I collapsed in a fit of sobs.  
  
BR CH5  
  
I don't recall how long it was before I returned to the lodging house. Everything had seemed so slow, but the sun was setting. I must have looked awful when I climbed the stairs because Skittery, Racetrack and some of the other boys who often don't talk to me (I don't know why) were playing some kind of game when I approached. They all sort of stopped and watched me, flushed and disheveled as I entered the lobby. In the lobby, girls knitting, boys, couples; all sort of froze and watched me painstakingly tackle the stairwell to be alone.  
  
I wondered how long it would be before a group of well-meaning, but naïve girls would come to comfort me. They would make rude jokes and try to make me laugh. They would say they knew it from the beginning. That he was a bad egg. I wondered if they would be right.  
  
I sat before the vanity mirror with a hairbrush we shared. I examined my cheeks and lips; my eyes and lashes. Had Richard been lying when he told me I was beautiful? It was something I had to decide. Now. I combed my hair and braided it. As I pulled the length of leather cord around my second braid, and looked into my own eyes and I found it. It was something inside of me that I had been looking for since I was a child. I needed it, and Richard filled that need for a time. But he had left, and I had found the strength inside myself. I was beautiful. This revealed, I knelt before my bed to pray. I peered out the soiled window at the stars which shone over the same sky that his rail car must be under this second. I changed into my nightgown and fell asleep leaning on the windowsill feeling more peace than I had ever felt in Richard's arms.  
  
**  
  
"Ya mean you'se okay wid' dis?" Smalls asked incredulously over a sarsaparilla at Tibbey's.  
  
Giggles, Firecracker, Mush and Dutchy, Smalls and I occupied a table at the famous restaurant of the newsies. I shrugged, smiling. I had changed, overnight, however impossible.  
  
Firecracker squeezed Mush's hand and looked at me. Lord love her, she hardly knew how I felt, but she wasn't going to try and argue.  
  
Giggles knit her brow, "It's okay ta be a liddle hoit, Chesa. He did leave ya- outta da blue."  
  
"No, Giggles," I said, "It wasn't out of the blue. It was destiny. There wasn't anything I did to make him leave, I just didn't need him anymore, and he knew it before I did." 


	2. Twinkle

Twinkle

Chesapeake sat on the fire escape, exuding confidence. Everything was fine. She sketched a picture of the landscape before she began to write a letter to Richard. She was unaware of a silent observer, and thus wrote speaking aloud to herself. "Dear Richard, Please inform my family that I am well and everything here is looking up. I've been dating around, and I think it's doing me good. I am glad that there are no hard feelings between us. Give my family and friends- my brother especially my love. Thank you for being a messenger and confidante. Thank you for everything. Happily your friend, Lynn."

The observer sighed leaning back up to the roof of the lodging house, his heart filling with infatuation. Indeed, Chesa had been dating around, and it was beginning to upset him. Rational thought had practically left him at that point, but came smashing back through his skull that very moment. He reasoned that he had no right to feel possessive about a girl he wasn't dating exclusively. He had never felt the jealous type before, but now he was doing a lot of things that were out of character, like eavesdropping on girls writing letters to their ex-fiancés. Perhaps he was changing.

Mush joined him on the roof. "Heya Jack," he greeted, "Whatcha doin' up heah?" Mush leaned on the wall of the roof, dangerously close to discovering the cowboy's unhealthy obsession with one of his coquettish boarders.

Jack leaned too, watching from the corner of his eye as Chesapeake licked her envelope and closed it. For a moment he lost himself to her lips and her tongue, but quickly regained composure. "Jack, you okay?" Mush's brow furrowed with concern, "Maybe ya had too much ta drink tanight..." Chesa climbed into the bunkroom through the window.

"Dat ain't it, Mush," Jack said, turning and leaning against his back, "I don' really wanna tawk about it, ya know?"

Mush raised his eyebrows, "Shoah, whateva ya want, Jack. Nice night ain't it?" He looked at the sky.

Jack gave him a sidelong glance, "Ya know, Mush... I ain't inta guys." They laughed.

**

Chesapeake blinked, "Sure Skittery! I'd love to!" She embraced him, quickly.  
  
Smalls and Firecracker came into the bunkroom, giggling at some joke that Chesa and Skittery had missed. "What's up you two?" Firecracker asked, noticing that Skitts was holding Chesa's hand.

"Skitts just asked me to be his girl.... so.... now we're exclusive!" Chesa giggled.

"Dat's great you guys!" Smalls exclaimed, "Hope yer happy tageddah!"

Skittery grinned, "Well it ain't like we'se gettin' hitched anytime soon. Slow down dere Smalls!" They, too, had a good laugh.

**

Chesapeake was not ugly, you must understand. Her fair, smooth skin and harsh grey eyes gave her a look of distant winter. She was curvy and tall, and attempted to hide neither of these characteristics. A girl with Chesa's skin needn't buy rouge for her cheeks, nor fancy clothing. Most everything suited her. Many of the boys made advances at her, but she did not accept and often she would be defended very vehemently by certain members of the opposite sex.

It was often that Jack would be caught, staring at her pale face, or her hands, or her hair by his close friends. Her hair. Jack sighed and breathed deeply. Her hair smelled of honey and cookies and her own freshly baked bread... it smelled like home. His mother must have smelled like Chesa's hair, because it filled him with such a warmth and sense of security that he could crawl into her arms (if she would allow it) and pour every drop of his soul.

Evenings Jack would stay up and read the paper, drinking coffee or tea, waiting for her to return to the lodging house safely. The way she giggled made his neck hot. He seethed at the way Skittery's hands wandered from around her waist. One such evening, on the third day of July, Jack mentioned to the two that an early retire would be wise, because of tomorrow's great festivities.

Chesapeake agreed immediately, much to the dismay of Skittery and the smug grin of Jack, who then, as he watched them ascend the staircase, sat on the lobby windowsill to gaze at the stars- at a star which his mother told him was his when he was very very young. Mush startled him.

"Shoah dat star ken twinkle," Mush said, "An', boy, you're watchin' it do so hard. But I knows a gal twice as hard and I'm shoah she's watchin' it too. No mattah what tie she's got in her right dressah, tied. I know she's watchin' dat star. Gonna twinkle."

Jack furrowed his brow. "What's dat, Mush? Some kinda poem?"

"Yeah, Fiahcrackah wrote it fer ya." Mush handed Jack the thin piece of paper, "She said you'd know who it's about." He shrugged. "Yeah, some a' da boys... Jack, we'se noticed ya lookin' at Chesa... an'... well, we dunno."

"I don' wanna hear it, Mush. It don' mattah how I look at any goil but dat one, does it?" Jack sulked, and stared at the stars, thinking... wondering... what if she was watching that star? "If Skittery wants a fight, den he knows wheah he ken find one."

Mush sighed, "Jack, it ain't dat. I mean... well, I guess it is, but we just ain't shoah. Maybe somebody should tawk ta da goil about it befoah ya go cuttin' Skitts off from everyt'in' he's evah known. I dunno if he loves her! You dunno if he loves her! You dunno if she loves him! Don'cha want her ta be happy?"

Jack nodded silently, but was completely unable to get his mind off that star. Gonna twinkle.

**

The next morning, Independence Day, everyone was out early. The streets of New York were decorated in red, white and blue streamers. Patriotic headlines replaced the ones about nude corpses. The day passed quickly and eventlessly. Spot had planned a large gathering at the docks to watch displays, play cards, set off firecrackers and genereally celebrate. That evening everything was going well. Luna greeted Chesa and Skittery, and they joined a card game. Chesa was finished with cards before Skittery, as always. To pass the time she thought she would get a drink.

Jack and Chesapeake met looking over the various drinks. Killian's Red, she finally decided on an Irish variety of beer and leaned against a dock post, waiting for Jack to speak to her. All his attention was focused her direction, even though he wasn't looking at her. She could hear her name in his thoughts. The hairs on her arms stood up. "Cold?" he asked.

"No," she said, giggling, as always, "Just bored."

He thought for a moment and hesitated, but eventually just blurted, "Hey, ken I ast you a question?"

"Shoot."

"Last night, when ya jest got home from da date wid Skittery, what didja do?" He asked.

She blinked, "I wrote in my diary for a moment, then I looked at the stars..." She grew wistful, as though she had forgotten who exactly she was speaking with, "My older brother, Peter, died when I was seven, of a terrible disease. It was slow and each day we waited for him to pass on into eternal peace, so his suffering would end. He was so joyful... even in those days. He said that if I ever missed him or needed help, that I could look at the night sky and he would get God to help me."

"Must be nice havin' a relative in heaven."

"What about your mother?" She asked.

"Jus' coz she's dead don' mean she's in heaven."

She giggled again, "Heaven's a peculiar thing, Jack. I'm sure you've somebody looking out for you. Otherwise you couldn't have made it this far."

Jack furrowed his brow and failed at hiding the pleased smile that spread across his face. It occurred to him how whipped he was, but he was unable to avoid the feeling inside him He felt helpless and pathetic, but happy in spite of himself. "Yeah, well... Dere's a few angels in my life." He struggled to think of a topic with which to change the subject, "How's t'ings wid you an' me pal Skittery?"

"Last night we broke it off," Chesa sipped her beer. Jack's heart leapt as she continued, "I figure there's just too many guys here I'm just in love with. Skittery doesn't have a problem with me seeing other people... So..." She trailed off, looking at the floor, venturing to briefly glance up at Jack.

He smiled, "Great! So, are ya busy dis week? I was t'inkin' we could go for a walk, say Friday?" He'd had experience with lots of girls and knew the moves well, but his hand felt clumsy as it brushed her cheek.

"Sure thing!" Chesa giggled, batting her eyelashes again and nervously pecking Jack on the cheek before walking away with the shy swaying step of a girl with attitude to match her hips and calling out to Firecracker, who seemed to be an explosive guest of honor tonight, it being the Fourth of July.

Just then, Jack looked at the sky, and his star came into view as the first firework of the evening exploded against the New York sunset skyline.

BACK TO THE CAVERN 


	3. Bad Diary Days

Bad Diary Days

  
It was not long before Chesapeake and Jack were known about Manhattan and Brooklyn as an item. Meaning, that they weren't officially exclusive, but Jack would quietly and secretly crucify anybody who made an obvious move in the direction of "his" girl. Chesapeake was naïve to all this, and dated whom she pleased , seldom quitting her dreamy gazing at stars and smelling of flowers to realize that she was falling for Jack. She had many friends, but they all hesitated to question her judgment in dating other boys to her face. In truth, she had simply never thought about the fact that someone from Manhattan might be meant for her.

After a few months, one December evening, in the bunkroom the boys talked about their girls. "Bareley evah fight. She knows dat I love 'er," Jack said about Chesa, "At foist we made it every night, but I don' wanna bug 'er about it... She jest 'as a funny way a' lovin' me." A few of the boys couldn't look Jack in the face that night.

Meanwhile in the girls' bunkroom, the girls discussed their guys. Firecracker giggled and all the girls laughed about she and Mush. "So, what about you, Chesa," she asked, "How are things with you and Jack?"  
Chesa laughed, "What do you mean, Fire? Jack and I aren't going together... I mean..." She paused, "He doesn't date a lot of girls, but that's just how he is, right?" Silence fell. The girls shook their heads hadly.

"So you's ken imajin ouah surprise now dat he ain't datin' nobody else," Bittersweet interjected.

Chesa shook her head, backing away, mentally, from the issue- in denial, "That's impossible. I still go with Skittery... and Chip and a bunch of other boys.... Why....? Wha...?"

"Maybe you oughta tawk ta him about dat..." Blaze suggested, giving Chesapeake a gentle push towards the door.

Still bewildered, Chesa headed for the boys bunkroom. She stood in the doorway, apprehensive thoughts zipping around her brain. She knit her brow and batted her eyelashes. "Um... Jack?" she finally spoke up.

Silence fell, "What baby?"

"Can I talk to you.... In private?" The boys hooted and yelled as Jack and Ches climbed out the window onto the fire escape, then continued up to the roof.

"Ken I ast what dis is awl about?" Jack said softly, slipping his hand around Chesapeake's waist and sitting down on a crate. Chesa wrung her hands nervously and whimpered. He kissed her cheek in an attempt to comfort whatever might be worrying her. "I love you," he said, finally, "So whatevah it is... its okay... we'll get t'rough it, tageddah."

Guilt assaulted Chesa's heart- he loved her and she realized she loved him, too. She had betrayed him. Her face slowly crumpled and she began to cry. "Jack... I have to tell you something..." He wiped a tear from her cheek; she cried harder. "I've been seeing other guys."

He was shocked. He was stunned. Most of all, he was hurt, "What?"

"I didn't realize what you wanted... that I wanted it, too... for it to be just you and me," she scooted closer to him and sniffled pathetically, "I'm sorry..."

She kissed him- a deep, long, drawn out kiss. He wanted her; she wanted him; this was what it was all about. He ran his fingers through her hair as he had so many other nights when they made love. Chesa pressed in close to him, nibbling his hear, kissing his neck. They kissed again, with more intensity. Jack moved his hand to unbutton her shirt, stretching the fabric around the pearl buttons. The hairs on her arms stood up against the December cold, but she was filled with a warmth she could not describe. He pulled away from her to look at her chest and stomach, so thin from living here on the streets with so little money and comfort. He thought of another ruffian boy, homeless or nearly, running his newsprint stained hand over those milky-white breasts and was so appalled he had to look away. "Love ridden I've looked at you..." he said, "Wid da focus I gave ta my birthday candles. I wished on da lidded grey flames undah yoah brow... an' baby I wished foah you. An' nobody'll see when you are lyin' in yoah bed an' I wanna crawl in wid you... but I'll cry instead." Chesapeake began to cry again, but Jack had started and he couldn't stop now, "I want yoah warm... but it will only make me coldah when its ovah... So I can't tanight, Baby... no, not 'Baby' anymoah, if I need ya I'll jist use yoah simple name." She tried to kiss him through her sobs, but he pushed her back, "Only kisses on da cheek from now on, an' in a liddle while you'll only haveta wave."

Chesapeake watched as he climbed down the fire escape, trying to remain strong, though it was obvious how much he had been hurt. She sat on the roof, shirt unbuttoned, hair tangled, tears streaming down her flushed cheeks. "But I love you..." she whispered.  


BACK TO THE CAVERN 


	4. Standard Lines

STANDARD LINES

  
Chesapeake was tired. It was slow and painful with so many eyes watching a wound like theirs heal. Well-intentioned friends knew very little of what to say... so mostly they said nothing. Her eyes were always blood-shot and she'd find herself crying at the strangest times. When she looked at Jack, he would glare. Everyone knew it had been a bad breakup and that Chesa wanted him back. Would he give in? They knew he loved her first. But they also knew that she had hurt him, and his pride. Would he be able to forgive her?

The answer came to Chesapeake one evening, when she climbed the stairs to the attic to be alone. It seems obvious what she found there, now, but it had never entered her mind at that point. Sensual moans assailed her ears as she reached the top of the stairs. She recognized the girl's voice immediately as Elsa's. Elsa was rude and average looking. She had mousy hair and hazel eyes and an amazing amount of freckles. She'd been raised by God-knows-who in Boston and was now giggling erotically. It took Chesapeake two seconds more to discern who the male voice belonged to. She began to cry as she whirled around a corner and saw them, nude except for a fleece blanket wrapped around their midsections. When Jack looked up guiltily, "Chesa, I-"

Chesapeake took a deep breath, "Which of the standard lines will we use?" Her stare hardened and she spat sarcastically, "I hope that you're happy, you really deserve it. This will be the best for us both in the end." She turned on her heel and began to storm out.

"Wait!" Jack called, as she'd hoped he would, "I'se sorry, Chesa. I don' mean ta hoit ya... It's just that I'm so hoit I don' know what else I should do... Ya know?"

Elsa glared at them and threw her clothes on, starting down the stairs. Chesa stepped closer to Jack and placed her open palm on his chest, "I... I know. I'm sorry."

"I know ya are..."

"Do you think..." Chesa started, "Do you think we can fix this?" She hung her head.

Jack sighed, "I don' know... I don' know what love is... I don' know what I'd be sayin' if I said what I wanna... Which is dat I love ya."

"You should say it if you mean it, Cowboy," Chesa said, pensively, "But I don't think... Even if ya do, I mean.... maybe someday we could get together again..."

"I know," said Jack, "I t'ink you'se right. An' I do mean it. I love ya, but we can't be tagedda."

Chesa grinned, for the first time in ages, "Thanks."

Jack smiled back, "It's gonna take some time, doe, fer me ta trust ya..."

She nodded, "I understand." An awkward silence ensued, until Chesapeake grinned again, toothily and threw her arms around him, "I missed you..."

He was a bit taken aback, but that was just Chesa. He chuckled and they went down the stairs to go get dinner with the rest of the guys.

BACK TO THE CAVERN  



End file.
